Halep overcomes stuttering start to progress at Indian Wells

Simona Halep recovered from a shaky start to book her place in the third round at Indian Wells with a 6-4 6-4 win over Kristyna Pliskova.

World number one Halep is playing in only her third tournament of 2018 and that may explain her rustiness early on, Pliskova able to break in the Romanian's first two service games.

It was an opportunity Pliskova was unable to take advantage of, though, as Australian Open runner-up Halep eventually found her groove - the foot problem that troubled her in Doha not causing any issues.

From 3-1 down she won five of the next six games to take the first set, although she still only managed seven winners to Pliskova's 14.